Another child helped by Fishbon del Sur!
This is 2 year old Andres from the Cuenca area. Last year he was splashed with boiling hot water, resulting in severe burns on his chin, chest and upper arms. This week Dr Pablo performed the first surgery of several on the scars. The surgery was performed at Hospital del Rio. As a child grows, his scars do not, resulting in pulling and restriction in that area. AS you can see....he was not looking forward to this!
Andres is the third child helped from the money raised and donated by Fishbon del Sur. Thanks to Laura, Clay, cast members and attendees!

AND the first two children helped by the Fishbon del Sur play..
One year ago little Steven was severely burned in a home fire where he lives in Sigsig. When a child grows, his scars do not. This week Dr Pablo Salamea Molina did surgery on Steven's leg scars at Hospital del Rio to allow motion in his legs. This will not be his last surgery, but this is a brave young man.
Our other child is 4 month old Angel. a couple of months ago, Dra Mariela Siguencia fashioned a special mouthpiece until this little angel could get his cleft lip surgery. Today Dr. Pablo performed surgery to give this young baby a normal life.
A huge thank you goes out to Laura Inks Bodine, Clay Bodine and the cast and attendees of their recent play for greatly improving the quality of life for Steven and Angel!

This is 5 1/2 year old Carlitos. He was severely burned in August, but Living 2 hours away from Cuenca he did not recieve adequate medical treatment until November. Thanks to Gary and Dena Pate from Pate Ministries, Carlitos was recently brought to our attention.
Today we set up appointments for a minimum of 3 treatments to soften his scarring on his face (to be done 3 weeks apart). Following the treatments he will be evaluated for probable skin grafts.
He is such a darling little boy. Tod became his new best friend. And when he saw the medicine ($50) to be rubbed on his scars...he said to Dr Pablo "I can pay, I have the 50 centavos"!
The father was so grateful the his son will be treated at Hospital del Rio..
Many thanks to Dr. Pablo Salamea, Hospital del Rio and all our supporters for allowing HKIE to help this young man.

This is 4 year old Betsy. She was born with an extraordinarily wide mouth that prevented her from eating and speaking properly. 9 months ago Dr Pablo Salamea Molina performed surgery at Hospital del Rio to make her mouth more normal
.
Now Betsy is undergoing 3 procedures at Hospital del Rio (3 weeks apart) to minimize any scarring from the surgery. She and her parents come from a very poor area on the coast near San Pedro but are more than happy to make these trips.
They are so thankful to the hospital, Dr Pablo and the HKIE supporters. (mom sends us pictures weekly saying how beautiful her daughter has become!)
As they always do with our patients, Hospital del Rio gave HKIE a significant discount on the hospital costs.

​THE 88TH CHILD HELPED BY HELPING KIDS IN ECUADOR (HKIE)

This is Cristofer Alexander, 7 months old, who had the first of three to four surgeries on his face. As you can see, this darling boy was born with a very large, horrific birth defect.. Thanks to Doctor Pablo Javier Salamea Molina​, Hospital del Rio and the supporters of HKIE, this child will not grow up shunned or laughed at.

There will be 3 to 4 months between the surgeries (the surgery is called z-plasty for those interested)...this will allow his skin to heal. We will keep you posted on his progress.

Dr. Pablo is the Medical Director for both HKiIE and our Ecuadorian partner foundation Rostros Felices-Cuenca.